


Miracle on Ice

by guineamania



Series: GYWO Bingo [1]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Genre: 1980 Olympics, Alternate Universe - Sports, Defection, Gen, Kidnapping, Miracle on Ice, ice hockey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2015-10-10
Packaged: 2018-04-25 18:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4970935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineamania/pseuds/guineamania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Russian Ice Hockey team are nervous, so they resort to extreme measures. Including forcing Illya to kidnap a member of the American team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Miracle on Ice

**Author's Note:**

> For the Sports Fiction space on my GYWO Bingo Card and the 1 million words weekend challenge.

“Why me?” was Illya’s first question. What his coach was asking him to do was illegal and if they were found out it could cause them to be arrested and the whole team disqualified. In the Soviet Union, every opportunity to assert dominance over the Americans needed to be taken. But surely this was taking it all too far. His coach wanted Illya to kidnap the American ice hockey team’s star player, Napoleon Solo.

“Because you are the most likely to follow orders Kuryakin. And you look like a taxi driver,” the coach explained like he was asking Illya to pick up the dry cleaning not kidnap a perfectly innocent man. The plan was that Illya would bribe a taxi driver to let him borrow the car. Then he would pick up Solo and bring him back to the Soviet Union team’s hotel. It was simple, but it was just wrong. He wanted to win fair and square, to have that pride in his heart.

“We will win without this. Why do we need to do this?” Illya argued but the coach was having none of it.

“Get him Kuryakin, or you are off the team.”

 

Illya sat in the taxi outside of Napoloeon’s hotel, silently hating his coach for forcing him to do this. But he couldn’t be sent back home shamed. He would probably be arrested for treason as soon as he stepped foot on Russian soil. There was no choice, he had to do this. At least they weren’t asking him to cripple the rival hockey player. The door was thrown open and an impeccably dressed man slid into the taxi. “Broadway please,” the man asked and Illya instantly knew it was his target. Napoleon Solo was an art student that played ice hockey in his spare time. The whole American team was made of amateurs and wannabes; there was no way they could beat the far more experienced Russian team even with their best player. Illya started driving, he didn’t trust his voice not to give him away. They drove in silence with Illya watching his charge. Napoleon didn’t look happy, he was just wistfully staring out of the window. That wasn’t the face of a man competing for his country. It didn’t take him long to realise they weren’t heading to where he had requested. “Where are you taking me, do you even know the way?” he was surprisingly calm for a man that was being kidnapped.

“I am not a taxi driver,” Illya replied, forcing a snort from Napoleon.

“And you’re Russian this is just perfect,” Napoleon scoffed but they had arrived at their destination. Before Illya could apologise, Napoleon was torn from the car. His arms were pinned behind his back and a hood pulled over his face.

“Well done Illya.”

 

The next time Illya saw Napoleon, the American was not in a good shape. A large bruise marred his cheek and his arms were cuffed behind his back to the post of the bed. “We will still win, even without me the team will win,” Napoleon snarled, spitting at Illya’s coach.

“There is no chance Solo,” he snapped back, leaving Illya and Napoleon alone in the hotel room.

“You can let me go,” Napoleon stated as Illya stood in the doorway. “I can see you don’t agree with this. If I get back before the game no one will think anything off it,” Napoleon continued, trying to feed the doubt in Illya’s mind.

“If I let you go, I ruin my life cowboy,” Illya sighed and he could see Napoleon wince.

“I know people, I can get you American citizenship if you tell them all you know. I can make sure they can’t hurt you,” Napoleon’s voice was beginning to plead.

“Why is this game so important to you Solo?” Illya questioned, Napoleon sounded as if he was begging for his life not to play a game.

“Your boss said that if the Americans win, he was going to break my legs so I could never play for them again,” Napoleon explained, and Illya’s jaw dropped.

 

“I want to say thank you Peril,” Napoleon smiled as they sat on the bench. It had been two weeks since the Olympics ended and a month since the now dubbed, “Miracle on Ice”. “If you hadn’t let me go then I wouldn’t be here now.”

“It was the only choice cowboy. But I should thank you, not many people would give a Russian kidnapper a chance to change his life,” Illya smiled sofly.

“Anytime,” Napoleon’s smile morphed into a grin.


End file.
